Due to inadequate arrangements
to send the mangoes outside, growers are forced to sell them on
the roadside to local consumers in Lucknow. — PTI photo

IT park in two months, IIT next year: Dhumal
NEW DELHI, July 16 — With an ‘information technology park’ likely to be set up in Shimla in the next two months and an Institute of Information Technology to come up in Solan district by next year, Himachal Pradesh will join the states spearheading their economic growth through hi-tech industries.

IOC approaches govt to buy IBPNEW DELHI, July 16 — Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has approached the government with an offer to buy another state owned oil marketing company IBP, chosen for disinvestment this fiscal by the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment
(CCD).

Need to check time overrun in projects
THE Project Monitoring Division of the Government of India has analysed that the time overrun in various projects under execution is the most serious problem because apart from upsetting the plan targets, it also leads to cost overrun.

Action against cos for duping investorsBANGALORE, July 16 — Department of Company Affairs has initiated action against 142 companies which have “just vanished” duping investors to the extent of Rs 800 crore to Rs 1,000 crore.

ST collection up 35 pc in Punjab
PATIALA, July 16 — A 35 per cent increase has been registered by the state government in the collection of sales tax in the first three months of the fiscal year.

Recommendation on MRTPC opposedNEW DELHI, July 16 — A leading consumer group and a bar association today criticised the Raghavan Committee’s recommendation to wind up the MRTPC as part of the proposed competition policy and demanded more powers to the market watchdog agency.

Commissioning of sugar mill in NovBATHINDA, July 16 — Malout sugar mill being set up by the Markfed here at the cost of Rs 30
crore with all computerised operations will be commissioned by
November 30.

A model
presents an outfit by Libanese designer Zuhair Murad as part of
his 2000-2001 Haute Couture fashion show on Sunday. The fashion show will continue until July 19 with the " Donna sotto le Stelle " (Women under stars)
exhibition in Rome's central Trinita' dei Monti steps. —
Reuters

Ford team to visit
Daewoo’s plantNEW DELHI, July 16 — A high level team of Ford Motor Company of
USA will visit Daewoo Motor India Ltd (dmil’s) Surajpur Plant in Uttar Pradesh from Tuesday to conduct diligence and prepare a final report about its strength as part of us auto giant’s efforts at
arriving at a definitive agreement for takeover of the Korean car manufacturer.

CII delegation
to visit EuropeCHANDIGARH, July 16 — An eight-member CII
agri-business delegation will visit the Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy and the USA from tomorrow to attract foreign investment in the food processing sector.

IT park in
two months, IIT next year: Dhumal From Prashant Sood
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, July 16 — With an ‘information technology park’ likely to be set up in Shimla in the next two months and an Institute of Information Technology to come up in Solan district by next year, Himachal Pradesh will join the states spearheading their economic growth through hi-tech industries.

Talking to TNS here, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said that land for the proposed technology park had already been made available by the state government and talks for grants by the Information Technology Ministry were in the final stages. “The park would be in place by the end of rainy season,” Mr Dhumal hoped.

Admitting that the state had been slow in catching on the information technology revolution, Mr Dhumal, however, said that a lead had been taken in the bio-technology sector. “Himachal Pradesh is the first state in the country to set up a department of bio-technology,” he informed.

The Chief Minister said that the state had immense potential in the bio-technology sector and steps were being taken to document and promote its herbal wealth. “A task force had been set up for the purpose,” he disclosed.

Mr Dhumal, who was in New Delhi to attend the IT Ministers conference, said that talks had been held with a private entrepreneur for setting up an internationally acclaimed institute of information technology in Solan district. “The institute is likely to start functioning from the next
academic session,” he said, adding that land had been earmarked for the purpose and talks were being held by the concerned authorities with the University of California. The institute, estimated to cost Rs 51 crore, would benefit all the northern states. He said that the IT units coming to the state would enjoy some special concessions.

The Chief Minister said that computer education was being introduced in the government schools in a big way. While 100 senior secondary schools would be provided computers initially, the facility will be later extended to all 500 senior secondary schools. “With a view to neutralise costs, schools may be allowed to impart training to outside students also,” Mr Dhumal said.

The Centre, he said, had been urged to give liberal assistance to Himachal Pradesh as was being given to the North-Eastern states. At his address at the IT ministers conference, the Chief Minister had sought central assistance of Rs 5.30 crore to set up the information technology park in Shimla. An earth station and a data connectivity facility was also being planned for Shimla. A Rs 7.10 crore project plan had also been prepared to link the state capital with district headquarters through Internet, he disclosed.

NEW DELHI, July 16 (PTI) — Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has approached the government with an offer to buy another state owned oil marketing company IBP, chosen for disinvestment this fiscal by the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment (CCD).

IOC approached the Petroleum Ministry earlier this month to discuss the possibilities of buying the entire government stake in IBP, which has over 1500 retail marketing outlets.

IBP Chairman and Managing Director S Mathur told PTI that there were many players interested in IBP, but “everybody wants to buy us... We want that disinvestment in the company should be in the best interest of the government, employees and the consumers.”

Asked if he would prefer IBP being sold to IOC, Mathur declined comment saying “we will only prefer that company’s interests are promoted... This is an issue best left to the government to decide.”

Petroleum Secretary S Narayan also declined to comment on the issue saying “this has to be decided by the Cabinet.”

Official sources said that IOC, which has talked to senior ministry officials, is yet to send a formal proposal while indicating the same would be coming soon.

IOC’s move assumes significance in the context of the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment (CCD), scheduled for July 19, when Petroleum Minister Ram Naik is likely to reiterate his position that none of the oil companies be
privatised.

THE Project Monitoring Division of the Government of India has analysed that the time overrun in various projects under execution is the most serious problem because apart from upsetting the plan targets, it also leads to cost overrun.

With time overrun, cost goes up on account of inflationary pressure, exchange rate variations, higher incidence of interest during construction, higher incidence of administrative overheads, etc. The increase in scope during construction is a major component of cost increase in some projects. The cost also goes up due to demand for higher compensation for rehabilitation and environmental measures.

The division (Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation), its annual report for 1999-2000, says the major causes of time overrun include sanction of projects without firming up of techno-economic parameters, sanction in excess of financial resources, uncertainty about the availability of forest and non-forest land, contractual problems and poor performance of consultants, vendors and contractors. The other factors include delay in obtaining clearances, court cases, inadequate infrastructure support, and poor law and order situation in certain parts of the country.

On the basis of the analysis of problems, a number of specific measures have been initiated to cut delays in project implementation. These include more strict appraisal and sanction of projects, weeding out/transfer to the private/joint sector projects which are unable to make progress, re-prioritisation of projects in the light of resource constraints, filling the board level vacancies in the public sector undertakings, appointment of a nodal officer for each project with long tenure and accountability for implementation, formation of empowered committee in the administrative ministers for constant review of status and constraints in respect of government-owned projects.

Besides others include quarterly performance review of the projects being implemented by the PSUs delegation of more power to the field level executives, strengthening of the monitoring system, including introduction of on-line computerised monitoring system for updated information about the status and giving advance warning for remedial measures, yearly updating of sanctioned cost, improvement in contact management system, higher weightage to project implementation in MoUs signed between the administrative ministries and the PSUs.

The analysis, according to report, shows that if time overrun could be checked, nearly 75 per cent of the cost overrun could be reduced. Therefore, it has been pointed out that the future strategy is largely to control time overruns in projects. As advised by the Planning Commission, action is claimed to have already been taken by various ministries to constitute standing committees for analysing the reasons for time and cost overrun and fixing responsibilities for the same.

Each ministry/department has also set up a task force to review the contract management system and other project management procedures with a view to drawing up transparent contract management system which would be applicable nationwide.

BANGALORE, July 16 (PTI) — Department of Company Affairs has initiated action against 142 companies which have “just vanished” duping investors to the extent of Rs 800 crore to Rs 1,000 crore.

Department Joint Secretary A Ramaswamy told reporters here last night that most of these were teak and plantation companies and Non-Banking Finance companies.

Action had been initiated in 67 cases for non-filing of documents and for false disclosure, among others, he said.

Twenty three of the 142 companies were not available even at their registered offices and the Director Generals of Police and the Chief Secretaries in the respective states had been informed and their help sought for further action, he said.

According to one estimate, an amount of Rs 3,000 crore was involved in such companies. In certain cases, even the merchant bankers who had vetted the prospectuses had “vanished”, he said adding, SEBI should crack its whip on them.

Referring to the Companies Second (Amendment) Bill, 1999, Ramaswamy said the Standing Committee of Parliament was expected to submit its report this month, when the Monsoon Session begins.

The bill, which was designed to ensure better accountability, transparency and corporate governance, was expected to be passed in the Monsoon Session, he said.

On the Company Law Settlement Scheme 2000, Ramaswamy said Rs 100 crore was expected to be collected under it. The Department of Company Affairs had pleaded with the Finance Ministry to provide this money to itself for modernisation.

Under the scheme, companies which have defaulted in filing certain documents including balance sheet and profit and loss account, with the Registrar of Companies, could do so through a one time declaration and settlement. The scheme assuring immunity from prosecution ends on August 31, 2000.

Companies which do not respond positively would have to pay fines which are ten times higher than the present amount besides facing prosecution, Ramaswamy said.

PATIALA, July 16 — A 35 per cent increase has been registered by the state government in the collection of sales tax in the first three months of the fiscal year.

This was disclosed by Capt Kanwaljit Singh, Finance and Planning Minister, while addressing a congregation of workers here today. He said out of proposed amount of Rs 4,550 crore earmarked for development purposes in the
state, the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board will be chipping in with Rs 1,750 crore.

Work on seven major projects for constructing new roads and bridges will be undertaken by the infrastructure board by September this year. Out of these projects, one is the four laning of the Zirakpur-Patiala highway.

He also informed that a meeting of the empowerment committee of Chief Ministers will meet in New Delhi on July 21 to bring about a uniformity in the sales tax structure, which will prove to be beneficial to both government and trading community.

NEW DELHI, July 16 (PTI) — A leading consumer group and a bar association today criticised the Raghavan Committee’s recommendation to wind up the MRTPC as part of the proposed competition policy and demanded more powers to the market watchdog agency.

“Whatever is required to be achieved by the competition policy and law, can very well be achieved by
strengthening the hands of the commission by making suitable changes in the MRTPC Act of 1969,” MRTPC Bar Association President, UK Chaudhary told PTI.

Chaudhary said the existing legislation with minor modification to suit the changing Indian scenario, can be utilised to meet the specific requirements of the competitive
market driven economy.

Echoeing a similar view, Bijon Mishra, Adviser to the consumer group VOICE said, “it is much better to modify existing MRTPC and the Act, rather than establishing altogether a new machinery”.

The S V S Raghavan Committee was set up in October, 1999 to examine the provisions of the MRTPC Act, 1969, and propose a modern Competition Law. It submitted its report to the government last month.

BATHINDA, July 16 — Malout sugar mill being set up by the Markfed here at the cost of Rs 30 crore with all computerised operations will be commissioned by
November 30.

The Markfed management has made arrangements for sugarcane in adequate quantity for the first crushing season. The high-yielding and high recovery variety of sugarcane will be used in the sugar mill which will be commissioned in the record time of 10 months thus saving crores or rupees from cost factor.

Mr D.S. Bains, MD, Markfed while talking to mediapersons yesterday, said Markfed had planned to diversify the export from “Sarson ka Saag” to “Mattar-Paneer”, “Dal-Makhni”, “Aalu-Methi” and other traditional foods.

Markfed had got an order for polished Basmati rice from the USA and so far 160 tonnes of Basmati had been exported to the country. Markfed was also expecting to get the order of brown Basmati from
the UK by March 2001. To promote Indian food stuff in foreign countries, food festivals were held there.

Markfed has also signed an MoU with the Monsanto, world’s largest agro-chemical company, in May 2000 for producing the agro-chemicals in the Markfed’s factory located at Mohali. In the first phase, the agro-chemicals patented by Monsanto for paddy and wheat crops will be produced. Later on, the agro-chemicals for other crops would be manufactured. Markfed will sell its own 5 lakh litre agro-chemical and 5 lakh litre agro-chemical of multinational companies in the market in current year.

Regarding sugar mill, he said employees in the plant would be deployed rationally and logically. The employees of closed mills of Markfed in Dhuri and Ropar would be employed in the Malout sugar mill.

On the other hand, Markfed has tied up with PAU, Ludhiana, and its sugarcane research farm at Jalandhar for getting new varieties of sugarcane to get maximum profit.

The farmers of the area was being given breeder seeds of high yielding variety, they were being educated about the latest techniques of sugarcane harvesting and being motivated to adopt latest practices. A tissue culture laboratory will be set up in the mill to keep on improving the variety of sugarcane.

NEW DELHI, July 16 (PTI) — A high level team of Ford Motor Company of
USA will visit Daewoo Motor India Ltd (dmil’s) Surajpur Plant in Uttar Pradesh from Tuesday to conduct diligence and prepare a final report about its strength as part of us auto giant’s efforts at
arriving at a definitive agreement for takeover of the Korean car manufacturer.

Ford, which has been selected as the sole bidder to acquire Daewoo Motor of Korea and its worldwide operations, is likely to complete the final assessment of dmil by the first week of August, informed sources said.

Daewoo Motor, South Korea’s second largest automaker with $ 18 billion in debt, was auctioned off by its creditor bank last month.

When contacted, dmil Managing Director and
CEO Y.C. Kim said “ford’s name as the sole bidder for Daewoo has created a stir in the domestic market with inquiry level and customer traffic at Daewoo dealership going up by about 30 per cent.

CHANDIGARH, July 16 (PTI) — An eight-member CII agri-business delegation will visit the Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy and the USA from tomorrow to attract foreign investment in the food processing sector.

The delegation will also attempt to promote international participation at Agro Tech 2000-India’s fourth agro technology fair to be held here from December 1 to 5, 2000.

The delegation is expected to meet a large number of businessmen engaged in varied agri-businesses.

Q: I had booked a car against Rs 2,67,508. It was given interest at the rate of 11 per cent annum which amounted to Rs 28,458 after nearly one year. My income was agricultural income and I had filled a form to this effect at the time of delivery. But the company deducted Rs 3,130 as TDS from the interest borne on my principal amount. I want to know if TDS can be reimbursed to me by any means. I am ready to buy tax saver certificates such as KVP, NSC etc.

—
Prabhdeep Singh Virk, Batala.

Ans: Without investing any amount in KVP or NSC you will be eligible to receive refund of Rs 3130 from Income-Tax department. All you have to do is just to file your Income-tax return and enclose with the Income-tax return the original tax deduction certificate. You will then receive the refund from Income-tax department.

Q: My gross salary is 1,80,000. I have taken a house building loan in 1993. I repay the loan Rs 21,000 every year which includes Rs 5,000 as principal amount and Rs 16,000 as interest. The house is self occupied and there is no income/rent from the house. I calculate as follows:

Gross salary: 1,80,000

Interest on House

loan: 16,000

Standard deduction 20,000

Net taxable salary 1,44,000

Rebate under

Sec 88 (i.e.repayment
of Rs1000: 5000x20= 100

Principal
amount of loan

Please inform if the calculation is correct.

— S.S. Chopra, Jalandhar

Ans: The calculation mentioned by you is correct. You will be eligible even for the deduction on house loan on account of interest while you will also be entitled to tax rebate on account of repayment of the loan.

Q: I am serving as Medical Officer and drawing total salary of Rs 24,715 per month with basic pay of Rs 14300 and non-practising allowance of Rs 3575 (@ 25% of Basic Pay) I have been allotted official accommodation. Please clarify as under:

A. For purpose of computation of Income Tax whether 10 per cent of basic pay only is to be added in total Income i.e. Rs 1430 per month in lieu of official accommodation. OR

B. 10 per cent basic pay + Non practising allowance is to be added in total Income i.e. Rs 14300 + 3575 = 17875 @ 10 per cent = 1787.50 p.m. in lieu of official accommodation.

Non practising allowance is treated as pay for purpose of Dearness Allowance/TA/DA purposes.

—
Dr Amrik Singh, Morinda, Ropar,

Ans: For the purposes of arriving at the value of the perquisite in respect of rent free residential accommodation allotted to you basic salary together with non-practising allowance would be taken for calculation of 10 per cent of the salary to be treated as a perquisite. Please remember that for all practical purposes the non-practising allowance received by you is a part of salary.

Q: A house loan of Rs 5 lakh was sanctioned to me and I raised Rs 1.50 lakh upto 20.2.1999. After 1.4.1999 I raised remaining loan amount from same a/c.

I raised another loan a/c of Rs 2 lakh in another a/c higher rate of intt) from same financial institute w.e.f. 16.10.1999 for the construction of same house.

Please advise me if I will be eligible to claim rebate on intt amount upto 30000 or Rs 75000.

—
J. Sharma, Patiala.

Ans: One the facts stated by you, you will be able to get a deduction for interest payment in respect of self-occupied house property to the extent of Rs 75,000 because major portion of the capital borrowed is after 1.4.99.

In respect of the capital which was borrowed upto 25th February, 99 the interest payment in any case will not exceed Rs 30,000 which was the maximum permissible amount of deduction in case the loan was taken upto 31st March, 99. To conclude on the entire loan of Rs 5 lakh if you are paying interest amount exceeding Rs 75,000 then the maximum deduction which will be permissible to you would now be upto Rs 1,00,000.

Further, please note that this deduction can be granted by your employer. The Finance Act, 2000 has increased the deduction for interest payment to Rs 1,00,000 during the Financial Year 2000-2001 relevant to A.Y. 2001-2002.

A highly “spirited” passenger caused commotion on Thai flight the other day. The Commander had to make an unscheduled landing at IGIA to off-load the irate passenger who had attacked an air hostess and misbehaved with some passengers.

Brandishing cutlery knife, the passenger kept screaming that he would damage the aircraft. Two passengers sitting around him pacified him but he got up again and tried to assault one of the hostesses. When co-pilot’s efforts proved futile, the cock-pit crew obtained permission from the Delhi tower for the aircraft to make an unscheduled landing under “emergency”.

The aircraft landed at the subsidiary runway. The passenger was off-loaded and the flight proceeded to London. He was questioned by the police before he was deported to Bangkok.

The incidences of passengers misbehaving under the influence of alcohol are not uncommon. Once a Maharashtra minister misbehaved with an Indian Airlines hostess.

As global adviser for Air India’s disinvestment has been finalised, there is a hectic activity among the airlines, including foreign carriers, to bid for stake in the national flagship. The adviser will suggest ways and means for the process of disinvestment and recommend who should be the Air India’s strategic partner.

According to aviation analysts, there are about half-a-dozen foreign aspirants but the contest is between British Airways and Virgin. India is a fertile market and neither of them would like to surrender the advantage to other. Virgin in collaboration with Air India has already started operating two flights a week between Delhi and London. This has not been likened by British Airways which has already slashed its fare.

Air France is also interested for obtaining stake in the national carrier. The picture will be clear as the government decides about guidelines for the disinvestment.

Super jumbo

Bitten by an Airbus Industries plan for mammoth aircraft to carry more than 600 passengers, Boeing will also produce 747X. The project will cost $ 4 billion. The aircraft will be ready within nine months. This aircraft will be 20 per cent bigger than 747-400. It will be for 500-plus passengers.

According to manufacturers the cost on this aircraft will be much less than all new models.

With Boeing entering in the field of super jumbo, the competition between the two world’s leading manufacturers will continue to be as razor-sharp as it has been all these years.

Help for children

British Airways will donate Rs 5.4 lakh to the Haemophilia Federation (India) to provide support to children suffering from the life threatening bleeding disorder. The money is provided from the BA charity fund, “Silver Lining”, where the airline donates Rs 100 for every ticket sold in this country.

A number of IT companies declared their first quarter results last week. Infosys Technologies reported a rise of 109 per cent in its net profit for the first quarter (April-June) with an EPS of Rs 18.34 (of Rs 5 face value share) as against Rs 9.09 for the corresponding period last year.

Satyam Computer Services reported a net profit of Rs 50.36 crore for the first quarter, which is higher by 95 per cent than that of the corresponding period last year. Its EPS for the first quarter is Rs 8.96 for its Rs 10 face value share.

The first quarter results of Polaris are equally remarkable. It has reported a 126 per cent higher net profit. NIIT’s third quarter results, though below the market expectations, indicate a higher 27.9 per cent net profit than that of the corresponding period last year.

The market has, however, not responded to these results favourably. When the market closed last week on Friday, Infosys and Satyam were quoting at rates which were lower than those when the results had not been announced. In both cases, the results were higher than the market expectation yet the market barometer did not record its appreciation for these scrips.

There are a number of explanations for it. The P/E ratios of these scrips are still so high that a small investor cannot place these shares in his portfolio as a long-term investment. The institutions have already a high percentage of these companies in their portfolios and cannot afford to add more to them particularly when the market rates do not indicate any appreciation. The traders are anxious to book profits whenever such an opportunity offers itself.

The old economy shares, however, have done well last week. Reliance Industries is on a high swing. Larsen and Toubro has been able to maintain its earlier gains. Clariant had moved up from Rs 128-134 range to Rs 142-150 range. ABB has also moved up. Coates of India, which had been recommended around Rs 120 is now quoting around Rs 150. Further gains, however, are expected only after a year or so. This share should be treated as a long-term investment.

Vikas WSP has moved up from Rs 650 to Rs 715, partially due to good first quarter results and partially due to the report that the company is splitting its Rs 10 face value share into to Re 1 face value shares. An extraordinary meeting of the shareholders is being summoned in August for approval of the split. Its first quarter results indicate 67 per cent growth in its net profit and an EPS of Rs 99.37 for its Rs 10 face value share. As indicated last week, this share is expected to touch Rs 1000 by October, 2001.

The Board of Directors of Essel Packaging will be meeting this week to declare the issue of bonus shares.

NEW DELHI, July 16 (PTI) — Annual rate of inflation fell below 6 per cent for the first time in nine weeks to 5.92 per cent for the week ended July 1 as prices of agricultural commodities continued to ease with the onset of monsoon in most parts of the country.

Union BankTribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 16 — Reference news item ‘Action plan to revitalise weak banks’ on page 15 in the issue of July 16, the name of the “Union Bank of India”, is wrongly incorporated among three weak banks.The name was reported by the news agency PTI.

Frooty

CALCUTTA, July 16 (PTI) — Frooty, the soft beverage in “tetrapak” from the Parle stable, would soon bring in branded fresh juice products alongwith larger packs for its other range of drinks like “Appy” during the coming festive season.

Nokia awards

NEW DELHI, July 16 (UNI) — Nokia has announced arts awards for youth that would be available in its Asia Pacific regions including India. The Nokia Arts Award Asia Pacific 2000 was officially launched by Mr Nigel Litchfield, Senior Vice President. Nokia Mobile Phones Asia Pacific, at the Asian civilisations museum in Singapore.

Asian PaintsTribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 16 — Asian Paints launched its premium range of wood finishes — Asianwoods OPAL PU for Punjab here today. As the product has a punch line of “Magic on Wood”, a magic show was staged to unveil the product captivating the audience. Asianwoods is available in two variants — “OPAL Crystalclear PU” for interior wood and “OPAL Exterior PU” for exterior wood. Both the variants are available in Gloss and Matt versions and are currently being offered in one litre packing in clear shade. The product has already been launched in Mumbai, Delhi and Pune.